EDLD5364TeachingWithTechnology



 =Week 1 Reflection: = = = = = Much of our readings for the week focus on the constructivism style of learning. One of this week readings included “Learning as a Personal Event: A Brief introduction to Constructivism” written by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 1999. Traditional style or teacher led instruction is comprised of lectures from the teacher while students passively listen. In response to this teaching method, the article noted, “Truth be known, the teacher has done all the work and the students are a captive audience, waiting for the end of class” (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 1999). In other words students who are not involved in learning do not feel connected to the lesson plan and are not actively learning, but at best are only passively listening.

The way to adjust instruction from one of teacher led to constructivist teaching is to allow the students to be part of the learning process. Give them guidelines and find out what connects each student to the subject matter and allow them to research it and assist them in their search for knowledge. This way the students are involved, in the article, “If I teach this way, Am I doing my job: Constructivism in the classroom”, explains how this process is possible, “Constructivist teachers allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies and alter content”. This does not mean that constructivism teachers only teach what students are interested in, “Instead, students’ knowledge, experiences, and interests occasionally do coalesce around an urgent theme” (Sprague, D. & Dede, C. (1999)). There are topics such as world news events or national events that may have a great appeal to students, adapting that information into the lesson plan can help students relate and cause them to make connections between what they learn in the classroom and in turn apply that to their framework of knowledge. This is the root of constructivism learning, expanding your personal framework of knowledge.

References

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, (1999). Learning as a personal event: A brief introduction to constructivism. Retrieved on November 11, 2009 from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/intro2c.html

Sprague, D. & Dede, C. (1999). If I teach this way, Am I doing my job: Constructivism in the classroom. Leading and Learning, 27(1). Retrieved November 11, 2009 from the International Society for Technology in Education at http://www.iste.org/content/navigationmenu/publications/ll/llissues/volume_27_1999_2000_/september10/if_i_teach_this_way,_am_i_doing_my_job_constructivism_in_the_classroom.htm

 =Week 2 Reflection: = = =  For the second week of the course much of the reading focused on how technology affects learning. The readings were all varied and offered insight on many of the facets of how technology can be a powerful tool in the classroom.

One of our assigned readings was heavily researched based and showed that technology in the classroom has proven to have a positive impact on students with low socioeconomic status, in both higher levels of achievement and self- esteem (Page). Another of our readings, “The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the most current research has to say”, stated that the developers of technology are not focused on education when they develop technology. Yet another reading, “Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning”, showed us that technology can also be used as a tool to deliver an adaptive curriculum that benefits all types of learners. While the reading in the text, “Using technology with classroom instruction that works” gave a practical example with step by step instructions on how to use the software program inspiration to allow students to chart out their own assignments and use those charts to keep parents informed on what their children are working on in school.

All of this information shows that students like using technology; it helps narrow the achievement gap especially with students of lower socioeconomic standing and also has a positive impact on special education students. Technology in the classroom can help teachers make their teaching style more student-centered, since computers and software can help them make their curriculum adaptive and give students options on how they want to complete an assignment. Even though technology may not be developed for the school environment, we know that it is still relevant to our students; they need to work with software and technology that is being used by professionals in the workplace, so that they in turn are ready for the workplace themselves. Technology in the classroom also has other benefits that allows teachers to give parents a digital copy of the work their students are working on and allow for instant two-way communication between parents and teachers.

After reading the readings for week 2, it has me thinking about what we can do at our district to improve the utilization of the technology that we have to improve student learning.

Thanks!

Sandra Villarreal

References

Page, M. S. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(4), 389–409. Retrieved November 24, 2009 from the International Society of Education at http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Number_4_Summer_20021&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&ContentFileID=830

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Chapters 1, 15-38.

Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Chapter 1. Retrieved on November 24, 2009, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/

Schacter, J. (1999). The impact of education technology on student achievement: What the most current research has to say. Santa Monica, CA: Milken Exchange on Education Technology. Retrieved on October 5, 2009, from http://www.mff.org/pubs/ME161.pdf.

 =Week 3 Reflection = 

This week many of the videos we watched were on the subject matter of how students use technology. A couple of the students that were profiled participated in after school technology programs. These programs focused on tiered mentoring. This got me wondering if our school district had any of these programs. I did an internet search and found a webpage from Duke University that runs a K-12 Technology Mentor program, the site can be found at []. It has many examples of technology use in the classroom. That includes completed class projects and how to use a wiki. The most interesting for me was the example of a project that was created by a Kindergarten class learning about the life cycle of Frogs. They created several presentations using Pixie2 []. The pictures show the students reading about frogs. The students used laptop computers and created the narration for the presentations. The teaching staff wrote down the students’ narration on the white board so that the students could read it back into the microphone. The students also selected the music for the presentation. I was very impressed at how professional these five year olds sounded reading out loud during the presentation. I am sure if the Kindergarten teachers in my district saw this example project then they would be inspired to create a collaborative projects utilizing technology.

Thanks! Sandra Villarreal

References

Duke University: K-12 Technology Mentor Program (2009). Retrieved on December 3, 2009, from http://library.duke.edu/blogs/techmentor/

Duke University: What I learned about Tadpoles from Ms. Bethea’s Kindergarteners (2009). Retrieved on December 3, 2009, from http://library.duke.edu/blogs/techmentor/category/projects/

For week four much of the readings and videos focused on collaborative project learning. The project subject matter spans several different subjects. This innovative way of teaching gives students longer amounts of school hours to immerse themselves in a project. For example you could have students working on a project of reflection and refraction; they learn about the basic terms and identify it with their science teacher. Then when they start working with their art teacher, they continue working on their project of reflection and fraction in art class.
 * Week 4 Reflection: **

The key is that teachers work together to communicate with each other what they will be addressing with the class during their time with them and have a timeline so that everyone involved knows when what portion of the project is due when.

I found a couple of web resources that could help [] is a website that allows teachers to communicate with each other and their students. The platform allows teachers to keep student work private from the general public.

Another useful site is [|http://wikieducator.org] that has resources for educators to learn how to use web 2.0 tools and collaborate with each other.

I would have liked to have collaborative project based learning projects when I was a student in K-12.

Thanks! Sandra Villarreal

References Edomo Home page (2009). Retrieved on December 11, 2009, from []

Wiki Educator Home page (2009). Retrieved on December 11, 2009, from [|http://wikieducator.org]

<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">**Week 5 Reflection:**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This weeks’ material focused on web 2.0 tools, educational gaming and assessments. I found the video, “Big Thinkers: Sasha Barab on New-Media Engagement” especially interesting. During his video he mentioned an educational game called, Quest Atlantis. I did an internet search and found the site, for the Center for Research on Learning & Technology and the project Quest Atlantis that Sasha Barab is the project director for http://crlt.indiana.edu/research/qa.html. Quest Atlantis is for designed for ages 9-15 and allows users to enter a 3D computer animated environment, where students complete quests. According to the QA Blog page it states that, “More than 45,000 children on six continents” have used the Quest Atlantis project and have completed 50,000 quests and 76,000 missions []. It sounds like the level of student engagement and participation is high. I wanted to see what completing a quest is like on this program. I clicked on the link form the QA blog page for, “apply for an account”; I filled out the information and waited for my login. The next day my guest account was created. I installed the application. The installation was very quick and easy to install. After I logged in I landed in the land of OTAK and met HAL who asked me to choose a profession, Scientist, Mathematician, Writer, or Archeologists. Depending on what profession you pick, Hal gives you a different mission. Quest Atlantis is very colorful and engaging, it encourages students to read so that they can get the information they need to complete the mission or quest and interact with the characters to get further information to complete the mission. I think many students and teachers would enjoy using this program in class. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; msospacerun: yes;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Reference:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Center for Research on Learning: QA Blog (2009) Retrieved on December 16, 2009 [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Center for Research On Learning & Technology: Quest Atlantis (2009). Retrieved on December 16, 2009 from [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Edutopia.org. (nd). Big Thinkers: Sasha Barab on New-Media Engagement. Retrieved on December 16, 2009 from []